Letters of the Heart
by Tellemicus Sundance
Summary: It started with a letter written from the heart. Now a guilty conscience desires to learn the truth within those words. But with two scheming fathers, rivals in love, and the chaos of Nerima, the truth could be a difficult thing to find.
1. Lamenting Beauty

**Letters of the Heart  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 1—Lamenting Beauty_

He had run away, again, the blue-haired beauty mourned from her perch high up in a tree. Why was he _always_ running away from her?

She only wanted to express her love for her Airen. Did he find her somehow repulsive? If so, then what was wrong with her? Was it her hair, her figure, her speech patterns, her attitude of obsessive love for him? What was so repulsive about her that caused him to continually run away from her, always back into the awaiting arms (and fists) of the violent girl, Akane Tendo?

The bluenette teenager watched from her perch in the tree outside the Tendo Dojo as the family—and more importantly, her dear Airen and his father—went about their daily lives in the dojo. She had sat there and watched from the wee hours of the morning as Ranma and his father engaged in their ritual morning sparring session, which ended with a customary splash in the koi pond shortly before breakfast had been served. She had watched as Ranma and Akane had both relaxed for about an hour, reading manga and watching television from the looks of it, before the demon Happosai burst in. The little letch had quickly drenched and groped Ranma-chan, which caused Ranma-chan to furiously chase the ancient pervert six times around and throughout the house before the old man tired of the game and left, likely for yet another of his panty-raids. She had watched, after the demon had left, as a surprisingly violent argument (even for them) had broken out between Ranma and Akane about something that she couldn't hear. This argument predictably resulted in Ranma letting the youngest Tendo send him flying into LEO via one of her favorite high kick attacks, probably to vent her anger instead of simmering in it all day.

Though Ranma had long since returned to the Dojo and life had carried on, Shampoo was no longer paying attention to it. Instead, she just leaned against the trunk of the tree she was in and silently bemoaned her continuing tragedy of a life. Shampoo was, for all intents and purposes, a very strong girl, physically, mentally, emotionally, and morally. But even she had her moments of weakness, which were steadily growing much more common as her time in Nerima dragged on. And though she could control and hide her pain far better than most others, her pride forbade her ever showing these moments of weakness to anyone, not even her dear great-grandmother or (especially) Ranma. Only the gods could possibly fathom the type of mockery, misery, and torment she'd have to endure if anyone of the Nerima Wreaking Crew were to see her during these times.

Shampoo truly wasn't a violent or bad person by nature, she only did what she felt was necessary to achieve her goals. She disliked telling lies, but wasn't above telling half-truths, though she usually tried to get her way across before any questions could be asked. She knew that this wasn't the best way to go about things with her dear Airen, but what choice did she have when faced with the fierce competition and craziness of Nerima? And it was the moral law of the Joketsuzoku, her home, right to the letter.

It was with an extremely heavy heart that Shampoo finally pulled herself out of her depressed funk; the sun was beginning to fall from the sky to hide behind the mountains on the horizon. It was a good thing that today had been one of her days off work at the Nekohanten, or else her great-grandmother might've come looking for her after the first hour. Reaching up, Shampoo touched her cheeks and felt the trails of dried tears that arced downwards. Hurriedly rubbing her face clean on the inside of the bottom of her shirt and gathering her calmness and resolve, she stealthily rose from her perch and prepared to leave.

Taking one last look at her Ranma, who was now in the midst of performing some rather advanced aerial martial arts form, Shampoo silently turned and leapt away, bounding from rooftop to rooftop with an elegant grace that only she was capable of.

Unnoticed by the distraught girl, a familiar pair of blue eyes had detected her presence not long into the day. Those same blue eyes had also been making regular, albeit discreet, check-ups on her location, just in case the girl was planning yet another of her usual chaotic encounters. But now those eyes, which had previously been full of suspicion and anxiety, were clouded in confusion.

She had been watching them all day. As unwelcome as it may have been, why hadn't she dropped in to visit?

—TS—

The chime to the backdoor sounded as it opened, announcing the return of a certain individual whom she'd been expecting to return hours ago. With Mousse out doing deliveries in Shampoo's stead, it was up to her alone to keep up with the various orders. Thankfully, today had been a rather slow and uneventful day, so it was no chore on her weary old body. She had been in the midst of preparing the last meal of the day for her late-night customers when the door had opened.

Cologne only caught a fleeting glimpse of her descendant's face before the girl had vanished up the stairs, likely to her room to clean herself up. It was in that fleeting glimpse that Cologne had seen Shampoo's red eyes and rosy complexion; she'd been crying over him all day…again. And while she could understand and even sympathize with her descendant in most circumstances, Cologne was personally growing increasingly annoyed with Shampoo's newfound depression. That girl needed to be broken out of her gloom, and soon!

The elderly Amazon spent the next half hour thinking over the many different ways she knew of to help Shampoo. As an Elder and matriarch, she knew of and could use a frighteningly wide array of methods to accomplish her goal.

She was in the midst of contemplating using a magic hairpin of hers to 'pluck' the unhappiness out of Shampoo (admittedly that would only have been a temporary solution, if it worked at all) when something one of her customers was doing caught her attention. The customer, a college student by the looks of age and clothing, was hunched over a piece of paper and was furiously writing and then rewriting something in his notebook, his cooling ramen mostly unnoticed from where Cologne had placed it.

"Young man," Cologne said, catching the customer's reluctant attention. "I do not refund or particularly enjoy dumping out hard-made meals. So please put your homework away and finish your ramen before it gets much cooler and so I can close up for the night."

It took only a split second before the young man's face lit up with a soft flush as he realized that she'd caught on to what he'd been doing and hurriedly complied with her 'request', muttering out a soft apology. Satisfied, Cologne turned back to her sink and the stack of dishes that needed washing.

However she couldn't help but chuckle wistfully at the memories that the boy had unknowingly dredged up. Back when she was still young, especially during her prime years, Cologne had received quite a few love letters from males (and even a few women) who desired her hand in marriage but were unable to best her in battle. In fact, if her memories hadn't become too fogged from time, that was how her daughter had fallen in love with her husband. Ah, the good old days back then…

And that was when Cologne had a sudden epiphany, which caused her to start chuckling softly under her breath.

As her scheming quickly began to set up the scenario, Cologne almost failed to notice Mousse who had returned from his deliveries. As her mind began to fill with ideas, she absentmindedly directed him to cleaning up the main room of the restaurant, and whacked him over the head when he made one of his usual snide remarks under his breath.

Cologne quickly contemplated on getting her great-granddaughter to willingly and knowingly participate in her scheme. There was also the possibility, however unlikely, of her great-granddaughter accidentally dropping hints to her airen, enough to get him suspicious. The girl had a heart of pure gold, but her judgment and common sense seemed to always get derailed whenever Ranma was involved. No, perhaps having Shampoo knowingly participating wasn't such a good idea after all. If things went wrong, Cologne had little doubt that she'd lose a good deal of Shampoo's trust and love. But if this idea worked...it would definitely be worth a few weeks, maybe even months, of stress between them when things finally came into the light. It was a chance that Cologne was more than willing to take.

With a confident smile on her face, Cologne finished up washing the dishes and went about gathering the supplies she'd need to set her plans in motion.

—TS—

It was a strange feeling of melancholy that was driving Ranma that evening. To make matters even stranger for him, he wasn't even entirely sure why he was feeling the way he was. It all stemmed from a certain blue-haired girl whom he'd become reluctantly acquainted with quite a while ago. To relieve him of the troubling thoughts that kept bludgeoning themselves through his mind, Ranma had decided to throw himself into some extra-strenuous nighttime training. His theory being that if he pushed himself to the point of complete physical exhaustion he'd be able to focus on nothing more than the said exhaustion, which would also have the bonus of aiding him in getting some much-needed shut eye in a few hours time.

Sadly, it didn't seem to be working to the extent of which he'd been hoping for.

He had two fifty-pound leg irons strapped to each of his ankles and a pair swinging from his wrists. The added three hundred pounds of extra weight would've normally been child's play for him to lug around. However, he was alternating running on both his feet and then switching to his hands per circuit he made around the Nerima neighborhood.

Ranma had long since lost count of how long he'd been doing this exercise, but he paid such minor details no heed. All that did matter was forcing those unpleasant thoughts about the Amazon beauty out of his head. Only Kami-sama knew of the problems (and poundings) he'd receive if anyone (especially his father, Akane, or Mr. Tendo) knew of where his mind had been drifting for the past few hours.

Rounding a corner, the pigtailed martial artist found himself on a familiar street. Up ahead he could faintly see a bridge in the quarter moon's weak light. It was the bridge that he and Akane always crossed over on their way to school. And, if his eyesight wasn't fooling him, there was an all-too-familiar figure standing on the bridge's railing, clearly waiting for his arrival. If he wasn't already out of breath from his long run, Ranma would've let out a low groan. Contemplating and trying to forget about Shampoo's strange behavior was more than enough of a headache. The last thing he wanted was to be adding whatever the eldest Amazon wanted into the mix and intensifying his headache.

"Good evening, Son-in-Law," Cologne said as he cautiously approached. "A bit late for a light jog, wouldn't you say?"

Coming to a surprisingly-gentle halt considering his heavy load and his heavy breathing, Ranma turned to face the ancient woman as he greeted her, "What do you want, Old Ghoul?"

After the customary whack for his disrespect, she curiously asked, "Is there something distressing you, Ranma-kun? I've seen the types of workout you and your father prefer, and I'd have thought that such a mundane exercise as this would've been far beneath you at this point."

"Just because it's mundane doesn't mean it's still not good training!" he countered immediately. "What do you want? I'm kind of busy at the moment."

Nodding with easy acceptance, Cologne dug into the sleeves of her robe as she said, "Yes, and I will be surely noticed to be missing if I delay this much longer. Son-in-law, I have something to give you. Something of an extremely delicate nature and you are to not discuss or mention it to anyone. If you do, I promise you, Son-in-Law or not, I will hunt you down and kill you like a rabid dog."

"What is it?" Ranma asked, instantly curious and wary. "It's not one of your little tricks again, is it?"

Rather than chuckle, as she normally would've at such a blunt accusation, Cologne leveled a very fierce gaze upon the teenager. "No, it is not," she answered nonetheless as she withdrew a blank white envelop from her sleeve. Holding it up for Ranma to see the envelop easier in the faint moonlight, she continued, "This is a letter to you, from Shampoo."

"What, like a love letter?" Ranma scoffed indignantly, disbelieving and annoyed in equal measures. Was the Old Ghoul really so desperate that she'd pull even one of these ridiculous stunts?

"Perhaps," Cologne conceded. "However, I have not read its contents. That privilege belongs to you."

"Not interested," Ranma stated, turning to continue his run.

"You saw her earlier today, didn't you?" Cologne said, freezing the youth in his tracks inadvertently and confirming her suspicion that he had. "You knew she had been watching you for the better part of the day, yet didn't once try to visit. Aren't you the least bit curious as to why?"

"No," Ranma said, though there was a heavy layer of uncertainty in his tone. He was curious; no matter how much he may have fought and screamed in denial, the simple truth was that he was. "No, I don't, not in the least bit."

"While this is speculation, I feel confident in guessing that the clues, if not the answer, is written here in Shampoo's letter," Cologne said, holding out the letter once again as Ranma reluctantly faced her. "All that I'm asking of you, Ranma, is to read the letter. Perhaps you'll have a better understanding of my great-granddaughter's recent depressions."

"Depressions?" Ranma repeated, unsure he correctly heard the old lady's words. But that couldn't be right! Shampoo was strong, like him, and she'd never get disheartened over something…for too long at least…would she? "Shampoo's feeling depressed about something? Is that why she—?"

Cologne cut off his questions by merely raising the envelop ever-so-slightly higher.

After a serious moment of debating with himself over whether he should take the offered letter or not, a sudden thought entered his mind. "Does she know you're giving me this? The Shampoo I know wouldn't want such things like this to get out."

There was a very serious gaze that filled Cologne's eyes as she answered. "That is why I'm telling you to never discuss what you read within with anyone else, _ever_. She's been coming back to the Nekohanten in tears more often than usual lately, so I tasked her with writing her feelings down in a letter as a way of soul-cleansing. So I am, in essence, betraying her trust by giving this to you. For if what is written inside here gets discovered and becomes known, she will know immediately who were responsible, us two. And I trust that you don't wish to have Shampoo invoking her Kiss of Death on you again, do you?"

Despite himself, Ranma visibly shuddered at the still-potent memories of a bluenette Amazon relentlessly chasing after him and his father throughout China and Nerima. Those were times he _didn't_ want to have return ever again!

Returning his attention to the letter that Cologne was patiently holding out to him, Ranma slowly and hesitantly reached out for it. Even without the chained iron weighing his arm down, it was a very difficult act for Ranma to lift his hand and try to take hold of the letter.

Just as his fingers closed upon the envelop, Cologne gave it a short jerk, snapping his attention back to her. "Burn this letter immediately after you finish reading it, Ranma. If nothing else, it would be an act of kindness towards a young girl whose ignorance we're taking advantage of."

With that final statement, Cologne released the letter into Ranma's care and quickly pogoed her way back to her restaurant with all due haste. The first step of her plan was done. Now all she had to do was watch and wait for the coming events to take place, perhaps providing a guiding prod when needed to ensure that her scheme reached the conclusion she desired.

* * *

(**AUTHOR'S NOTE**) This is an idea that I've had for quite some time, though not necessarily for this genre. To be honest, it wasn't until I'd stumbled across various Ranma/Shampoo stories that I first started getting truly interested. And now, after some gentle prodding and discussions with **rewind gone nuts** (my beta) that I decided to try my idea out. However, I don't intend for this story to be one of my major ones, just a pet project, so don't expect too many updates in the near-future.

For those who are curious, I'm basing many of my views on the various characters and some of the more well-known of the Ranma-verse quirks in general off **rewind gone nuts' **statements on his profile. I respect **rewind gone nuts **greatly because he has logically and carefully thought out each and every quirk with a cool head and not given into petty bashing of characters or plots simply because he doesn't/didn't understand them at first glance.


	2. Heart of Confusion

**Letters of the Heart  
**By: Tellemicus Sundance  
_Chapter 2—Heart of Confusion_

In the darkness of the night, the figure sitting crouched upon a high street lamp would've been easily missed, even with the light of the crescent moon shining down on him and giving him an almost unearthly glow. Deciding to not return to the Dojo for the moment, Ranma had leapt up here for a bit of security. From his position upon the pole of the street lamp and facing towards the light shining beneath him, no one could sneak up and peek over his shoulder to read what was in his hands, not even Happosai or Cologne could accomplish that feat.

Clutched in his hands and faintly illuminated by the moon above him were the pages of Shampoo's letter. If what Cologne said was true and Shampoo really hadn't written this letter with the knowledge that Ranma would be reading it soon, then he really couldn't believe his luck. Shampoo had written all _fourteen_ pages of the letter in Japanese, not Chinese, so he was easily able to read it. But what really surprised him was how thorough with her explanations and comparisons she had been, as though she really was trying to help him understand her.

It started out as much less a letter and more as a diary of her early life and how she'd grown up. Living under the almost unimaginably high expectations of one day amounting to something far greater due to her heritage as being the descendent of the mighty Cologne, spending the majority of her childhood playing with and eventually beating down Mousse as he turned his attention from playful sparring to marriage duels, training in martial arts for as long as she could remember, and then finally seizing her goal of becoming the village champion. Only to be beaten by a redhead stranger who made her look like a child battling a seasoned warrior.

She had explained, in a surprising amount of detail, just how extensive that one defeat had dishonored her in the eyes of her tribe. Just how incredibly angry she had been, not necessarily at Ranma but more at herself for apparently allowing herself to stagnate. Because surely if she'd been giving her training all she had she wouldn't have been beaten so easily, right? She had taken to hunting the redhead down with a passionate vengeance that would've made many of her tribeswomen proud.

And then she found the love of her life. Granted, she hadn't fallen in love with him on first sight or even when he had defeated her so easily. However, it was that act of beating her with only one hit (like the redhead had) that had gotten her attention on him. After that, she'd quickly come to realize just how strong he really was. He was completely devoted to his training and he had a good heart hidden under his loud, gruff exterior.

But, for some reason that she just couldn't understand, he seemed to be helplessly loyal to the violent girl he lived with, who hit and yelled at him for the smallest things. Why was he so committed to a girl who was not only inferior to his level of martial arts, but was clearly jealous of him for being so superior and had a ludicrously-short temper? And to make things worse, she seemed more content to yell and whine when things didn't go her way and let Ranma or her father or someone else deal with the issue instead of taking care of it herself. She had next to no drive to improve her martial arts. It was only a hobby for her that she indulged in when she felt that her great strength wasn't enough because she couldn't break Ranma's bones (or any of her other rivals) with one hit.

Upon learning of his intense loyalty to Akane, Shampoo had immediately realized that there was nothing she could say or do which could sway his interest from her and onto Shampoo herself. Not only did he seem to think that he was honor-bound to marry the Tendo girl, but he had his father and Akane's father both breathing down his neck whenever he _apparently_ showed even a sliver's worth of interest in any other girl, when it wasn't strictly as one martial artist to another at least. The only way she could think of to get his attention on her with that kind of mess was to play pranks and use magic or tricks. She explained that in her village, such tactics would've been extremely flattering. And though they were sometimes a bit obnoxious even in Joketsuzoku, it was the fact that the Amazon was willing to go to such lengths to get the man or woman they wanted that would've gotten them the attention of their target; maybe not always ending in marriage, but enough for them to get to know each other.

As he continued reading about how much it pained her to see him always running off or managing to outwit whatever scheme she'd come up with, Ranma couldn't help but wince. If this letter was to be believed, then he was hurting her emotionally far more than he'd originally thought. While many people would call him a callous and arrogant bastard (which he admittedly was), Ranma did have a good heart and one of the lessons his father had (sometimes _literally_) beaten into him since his birth was to never hurt a girl, whether physically or emotionally, _no matter what_. For all his lack of social interactions, even he could see just how much pain he was causing her as he read the letter. And despite all she'd put him through, Ranma couldn't help but start to feel guilty at the realization that he'd made a beautiful girl cry…numerous times. Yet he had always thought of Shampoo as being a lot like him, albeit a little bubbly and 'playful', as a skilled martial artist who could bounce back from even the worst of situations with all the elegant grace and talent as a cat.

Ranma may have been many things, but one of the things he'd always strived to accomplish was to remain as honorable as he could towards himself and what he loved, namely his martial arts. And now that he had been presented with a dilemma that had no easy solution, like many of his problems, he found himself between a rock and hard place. His honor was now bringing him a sense of deepening guilt thanks to the proof in his hands that was to the contrary of how he'd always envisioned the young Amazon. Shampoo was hurting and it was entirely his fault, if the letter was to be believed. And then his father's ingrained lessons on how to treat girls reared their ugly heads; he needed to make Shampoo feel better, otherwise the guilt of knowing but not doing anything would literally eat away at his conscience until he did something about it. His conscience demanded his comfort her, but how could he? If he did try to, she'd inevitably see it as Ranma finally starting to take an interest in her. Ranma was, again, finding himself stuck between a rock and a hard place.

What could he do in this situation?

—**TS—**

Something was bothering Ranma-kun.

That much was obvious, even to her father and Saotome-san. Ranma had been unable to muster very much focus during his morning training with his father. His moments of distractions seemed to occur during the briefs seconds before or after he launched a very high-speed attack on his father. Genma, ever opportunistic, would see those moments of distraction and immediately capitalize on them. He'd either dodge the coming attack or deliver a strong counterattack of his own, often smacking Ranma straight into the dirt.

From what she could see through the window of the fight currently taking place, Ranma seemed to have let his distraction overwhelm him again. Without missing a beat, Genma dropped like a lead weight from above onto Ranma's stomach before proceeding to kick him into the koi pond.

"Aw, is my little son getting distracted?" Genma yelled mockingly at the quickly resurfacing redhead. Despite his indignation at his son's apparent lack of focus, Genma couldn't stop himself from laughing heartily at his son's expense. At least until a small tsunami splashed over him, followed by a 'light' boulder that had formerly been resting on the edge of the pond.

"Now who is distracted, old man?" Ranma growled dangerously at the soaked panda before her.

'_Show respect to your betters, boy!_' Genma growled as he charged forward and attempted to whack his now-daughter upside the head with his sign.

Easily dancing out of the panda's reach, Ranma bounced forward and kicked out, striking the panda in its chin. "When I finally meet them, maybe I will!" Genma had no immediate reply to that retort as he was sent careening through the air and splashed down in the koi pond himself. Straightening herself up out her stance, Ranma muttered quietly to herself, "I'm not distracted, just hungry. Yes, I'm just hungry."

"Breakfast is ready, everyone!" Kasumi called out as she moved into the dining room with a large tray of food. Upon hearing the meal call, both Genma and Ranma abandoned their duel to rush forward and quickly take the offered kettle of ever-present hot water. Toweling themselves dry real quick, they joined the rest of the Tendo family at the table and eagerly awaited the food that was to come. It seemed that whatever had been distracting Ranma earlier was now partially forgotten at the sight of the approaching meal.

Throughout breakfast and then later as she was washing the dishes, Kasumi discretely watched their youngest houseguest. Although he was easily able to defend his plate from the occasional attacks of his gluttonous father with the ease of years' worth of experience, Ranma didn't eat with his own usual gusto. He still ate at a fairly quickened pace, but it just wasn't quite on the level that it usually was. Kasumi couldn't help but feel slightly worried about the young man. She didn't know what had happened, but it was clear that he was uncharacteristically distracted about something this morning. Also, she had noticed Nabiki sending the martial artist some very concerning glances as well. If Kasumi were a gambler, she'd place a bet that Ranma's wallet was going to be several hundred yen lighter by the end of the day.

—**TS—**

It was the weekend and school was out. The fact that Akane had gone off to visit her girlfriends after breakfast, as well as their fathers being occupied by their usual games of shogi and sake, meant that Ranma had a rare free day to himself. He was currently using this day to idly walk through the neighborhood upon the fences and other such places for his balance training. But this type of training had long since become second-nature to him, so his mind was mostly off in its own little world as he tried to understand the motivation of the Amazons.

'_Calm down and think this through carefully, Ranma_,' the pigtailed teenager silently told himself. '_Cologne and Shampoo have made their goals towards me __**quite**__ clear at this point. They want me to marry Shampoo, and probably return to China later on. Shampoo has done a lot of strange stuff to me and the Tendos towards that goal. How do I know that this isn't just another scheme?_"

'_I suppose I could always spy on them,_' he pointed out to himself. '_With the Umisenken, that'd be piece of cake…if only I could __**use**__ it, stupid panda. But if this is a scheme of theirs, wouldn't that mean that they'd be prepared for something like that? I don't wanna talk to Shampoo about this, it could give her the wrong idea…or the right one, depending on what happens. Mousse would likely cause more trouble than it'd be worth trying. And there's really no point in seeing the Old Ghoul until I see a bit more evidence of what she was talking about._'

Sighing heavily, Ranma came to a momentary stop on the fence and looked off in the direction that he knew the Nekohanten was. Up to this point, his primary and only method of dealing with his Amazon 'bride', as well as the various other fiancées his father hooked him up with, was to ignore their many and imaginative advances for as long as he could. He figured that if he ran away long enough, they'd eventually give up the chase and leave him alone. As of yet, this strategy had yet to yield any positive results. But would that strategy work in this situation?

As far as he could tell, Shampoo's letter had been as genuine and sincere as her desire to marry him. If there was ever one thing he could always count on Shampoo for, it was being extremely driven to get whatever she wanted. Unfortunately, more often than not, this usually pertained to getting Ranma to marry her. With that being the case, Ranma could easily read between the lines to see Shampoo's written confessions were completely truth, with a typical Shampoo-flair that mirrored her personality as distinctively as her fighting style. So he could tell that she had genuinely written that letter from the heart. The only question that remained was whether or not Cologne could be trusted when she said that Shampoo hadn't known of the letter's future destination into her Airen's hands.

A familiar jingling bell and an even more familiar cry of "Nihao, Ranma!" tore the pigtailed martial artist from his contemplations. Spinning around, Ranma let out a startled cry as an overeager bundle of Chinese Amazon expertly tossed her delivery box into the air, leapt off her bike, and wrapped her arms tightly around his torso as she slammed into him, knocking both of them off the fence. Behind them, her bike clattered to the ground lifelessly as the delivery box settled upon the fence in a slightly less than gentle jostle.

Looking up at the bluenette that had so enthusiastically embraced him as she tried to cuddle ever deeper into his chest, Ranma had to suppress a pained wince. No matter how many times he'd been in this position, it never got any easier to deal with. As he tried to sit up, Shampoo suddenly adjusted her position and was hugging him tightly around the neck, pressing herself onto him in a manner that would've had any guy blushing up a storm.

"Shampoo so happy to see Airen!" she purred, nuzzling up against him.

"Shampoo, get off me!" he almost yelled, struggling to get to his feet and remove the clinging beauty. "What are you doing here? Delivering ramen again?"

"Aiyah!" she yelped in disappointment as Ranma pushed her off him and sat up. "Ranma no happy to see Shampoo?"

"No, I mean yes," he proclaimed, verbally stumbling as old habits collided with new questions. "Ah…well, maybe if you didn't throw me to the ground like that…"

"Ah, Shampoo sorry!" she replied immediately, looking extremely apologetic. For just a split-second, Ranma was once again struck by just how incredibly cute she was… Well, when she wasn't doing anything devious at least. Unfortunately for Ranma, Shampoo glanced up at him and caught him staring at her with peculiar gleam in his eyes, a gleam that she'd not seen before and thus didn't recognize it. "Why Ranma staring?"

Blinking and snapping back to reality, Ranma sighed and looked away while rubbing the back of his neck. "Nothing…" After a moment, he could no longer contain his curiosity. He'd vowed to never _outright_ ask about that letter, but… maybe if he asked certain questions the girl would give him answers, which he could later compare to what he remembered of that letter and verify its accuracy. Thus he felt secure in asking, "Hey, Shampoo, how much longer are you going to watch the dojo all day?"

His unexpected question clearly caught the girl flatfooted; an extremely faint blush of red teased across her cheeks. "Nani?"

"Don't play innocent with me, Shampoo," Ranma said, trying to sound reproachful but failing. His lips twitched into a reluctant grin at the girl's attempt at playing innocent. "I could've felt you from three miles away, especially when your ki started fluctuating. Were you daydreaming or something?"

If Shampoo had been anyone else, she might've had a full-face blush by this point. He'd sensed her yesterday, even when she'd been doing her utmost best to hide her presence. In retrospect, she knew she shouldn't have been surprised; this was Ranma after all. But she hadn't prepared herself for being questioned on it!

"You're lucky the old men didn't notice," Ranma continued. "If they had, that might've gotten unpleasant."

Snorting, Shampoo crossed her arms and looked contemptuous at the comment. Did Ranma think she was some defenseless and weak girl like the rest of Japanese community? That she couldn't handle the elder Saotome and Tendo? "Shampoo no weakling, Ranma," she declared pointedly. "She beat all fighters! No sweat!"

Shrugging casually, Ranma turned a critical eye on the girl. "You still didn't answer my question, Shampoo. Why are you watching the dojo lately? You're not going to try another of your crazy magic tricks again, are you?"

Looking curiously up at Ranma, Shampoo brushed off the insult as she tried to understand what her beloved husband was doing. So far, aside from pushing her off of him, he hadn't even tried to run away or get her leave yet. How strange… Unable to stop herself, Shampoo asked, "What wrong, Airen? Ranma acting weird."

"Don't change the subject, Shampoo," he said, unwavering. "You started acting weird first. Is there something you want to tell me?" Looking around and stretching his senses to verify that they were truly alone on the street, or at least far enough away from prying ears, he continued, "We're alone for the moment, so now is your best chance to tell me."

He did have a few points. They were as alone as you could get in Nerima, which usually didn't last too long. She was the first one to break away and start acting different from their established status quo, so who was she to criticize him for doing so as well? And she could tell that he was unusually focused on getting some kind of answer from her about her recent change. It was tempting, _very_ tempting, to just lower her emotional guard and share all her grief with him. Tell him about why she was feeling so depressed lately, try to get him to understand her feelings.

But she was a proud Amazon! She wouldn't let her emotions get the best of her, especially in front of her husband. Besides, she felt loads better after following her great-grandmother's instructions and writing her emotions down in a faux-letter to Ranma last night.

"Shampoo feel just fine, Ranma," she declared, carefully keeping her voice level and casual, her expression neutral.

Ranma just continued staring critically at her for a few moments. Because he'd been specifically looking for it, he had noticed the careful control of her voice and the slightly saddened gleam in her eyes, a stark contrast to the usual lively and bright sheen that lit them. If he'd asked her that question yesterday, he probably wouldn't have noticed because he'd have not really cared too much about it.

After a moment of silence between them, Ranma finally nodded as he pushed his hands into his pockets. Turning, he started walking away. Casually waving over his shoulder, he called out, "I'll see ya later, Shampoo. Don't let that ramen get too cold, okay?"

Blinking for a moment, Shampoo tried to puzzle out what he meant. Then she remembered her earlier task. Yelping at having forgotten about the errand in her happiness to see Ranma, she grabbed up her bike, leapt back up on the fence with the waiting delivery box, and took off at breakneck speeds to make up for lost time.

Ranma watched in silence as the bluenette disappeared around a corner, her speed never slowing in the slightest. He was left with the difficult task of trying to sort through what they'd spoken of and what her reactions or lack of reactions meant.

He was getting a headache already.

* * *

(**Author's Note**) At long last, I have FINALLY updated this story! Hallelujah! Though I'm kinda embarrassed it took me more than two months to do so. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long and will have more character interactions.

I'd like to shout-out to **rewind gone nuts **for helping me with this chapter and, specifically, for reviewing the conversation between Ranma and Shampoo which was probably the signature portion of this chapter.

I'm planning to update my other two stories before moving back to this one. Until that time, here's a small challenge/request for all you. While I have overall plotline somewhat thought out, it's the little things that I'm open to. If there's anything you think I should add into this story, or ideas you have that you think could compliment the story, feel free to PM me at your earliest convenience. I only ask that you try to keep your ideas logical; I'm not a fan of bashing characters I don't like without undue reason, so if your idea is to torture someone like Akane, Nabiki, Mousse _just because... _you'll need a better reason to win my support.

Until next time...


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